Steven
Seagal plays ‘Travis Hunter,’ an American agent summoned to Tokyo to
investigate possible links between terrorist organisations and the
infamous Japanese crime network known as the Yakuza. Hunter, having
spent many of his formative years in the land of the rising sun,
attempts to use his local contacts to negotiate a peaceful outcome.
You’ll be surprised to learn that these negotiations are
unsuccessful and Seagal must, oh so reluctantly, resort to
violence.

As one
would expect in a film based in Japan, many of the conversations are
conducted entirely in the local dialect. While these scenes ably
demonstrate Seagal’s linguistic versatility, they do little to
advance the plot, especially since they are bereft of subtitles in
the default set-up. You do have the option of activating subtitles,
though this will result in the display of subtitles during the
English-language portions of the film as well. One further word of
warning: much of the aurally dynamic Japanese dialogue translates
into phrases such as ‘Yo punk!’ and ‘Bring it on!’

‘Into
the Sun’ is essentially a police procedural film interlaced with
occasional explosions of marital arts. Segal employs his trademark
compact fighting style. His moves are less spectacular but more
realistic than some of his contemporaries, or at least as realistic
as one man taking down multiple opponents can be. It is during
these scenes that his minimalist facial expressions and dialogue
actually seem quite appropriate and contrast nicely with the manic
stylings of Takao Osawa’s villainous Kuroda. However, during the
procedural scenes, Seagal’s expressionless face and incoherent
mumblings are as frustrating as ever.

As
poor as Seagal is, the film is at its least convincing during the
brief periods focusing on the supporting cast. His hot-headed young
partner engages in amusingly inept monologues designed to offer the
audience insight into his state of mind. Seagal’s love interest
appears only long enough for him to trot out the “I’ll just complete
this one last job” cliché. Finally, fearing for the safety of his
young marital arts student, Seagal warns her not to accompany him on
his quest for justice. Will she obey his command or will she come
storming in at the end to kick some ass? Who can say?

For
all its faults, ‘Into the Sun’ is a reasonably competent film. The
script may be dire and the characterisation laughable, but the
uncomplicated plot, well choreographed action and (importantly)
brief running time combine to create a decent time-filler for Seagal
fans.

In
addition to starring in the film, Seagal serves as executive
producer and co-writer. He even composes and performs a number of
the pop-rock tracks featured on the soundtrack! Given his obvious
devotion to the project and well publicised love of Eastern culture,
you may be interested in watching an interview with the man
himself. If so, you’ll have to look elsewhere, because the disc is
devoid of special features.